Witness in the Word · Module 7 — Eternity and Hope
Class 27 – The Return of Christ
Source: Death Then What, Chapter Nine
The resurrection of the body has been established as certain. The question that follows is not whether it will happen, but when. Scripture does not leave the timing undefined. It connects the resurrection of believers to a specific event. That event is the return of Jesus Christ.
This is not a secondary teaching or a matter for debate among those who accept Scripture. The New Testament declares it plainly and confirms it repeatedly: Christ is coming again, and when He comes, everything established in the previous chapters will reach its appointed conclusion.
The return of Christ was not left as an assumption. It was spoken as a direct promise.
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
— John 14:1–3
This was spoken by Christ Himself the night before His crucifixion — not in generalities, but as a specific declaration: I will come again. These are the words of the One who spoke and creation responded.
At His ascension, this promise was confirmed once more.
"This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
— Acts 1:11
The same Jesus — not a representative or a spiritual influence. The same Jesus who walked, spoke, died, and rose will come again in the same manner He departed. This is literal and certain.
Scripture does not present the return of Christ as symbolic. It presents it as a coming—a visible, actual event. The same Scripture that declared His first coming in detail was trusted before He came. Every detail of His birth, life, death, and resurrection was written before it occurred, and it came to pass exactly as it was written. The same Scripture declares His return. It will come to pass exactly as it is written.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."
— Matthew 24:35
Scripture does not only declare that Christ will return. It describes what will happen when He does. Paul was given specific revelation concerning this, and he wrote it plainly so that believers would not be without understanding.
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep."
— 1 Thessalonians 4:14–15
Two groups are identified here. Those who have already died in Christ—described as those who sleep in Jesus—and those who are still alive when He returns. The word "sleep" does not suggest unconsciousness. It has already been established that the soul continues in awareness after death. The word is used in reference to the body, which remains in the earth as one who sleeps until it is raised. It is a word of rest, not of absence.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first."
— 1 Thessalonians 4:16
The Lord Himself descends — not a messenger, not a symbol, but the Lord Himself. And when He descends, the dead in Christ rise first — raised and transformed, reunited with the soul that has been present with the Lord.
"Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
— 1 Thessalonians 4:17
Caught up together with them. The living believers and those who were raised together — both groups. And from that moment, Scripture gives the most definitive statement in the passage: we shall always be with the Lord. Not for a period of time, not until something else occurs, but always.
For those who are alive when Christ returns, something remarkable is described. They do not die and then rise. They are changed without dying.
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
— 1 Corinthians 15:51–52
Not every believer will experience physical death. Some will be living when the Lord returns, and those believers will be changed instantaneously — the natural body transformed into the resurrection body without passing through death. The timing given is striking: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. This is not a gradual process but an immediate transformation at a specific moment.
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
— 1 Corinthians 15:53
What is corruptible becomes incorruptible. What is mortal becomes immortal. This is the full restoration of what death interrupted.
The soul that departed the body at death and was immediately present with the Lord is now rejoined with a transformed body. The believer stands whole—body, soul, and spirit—in the presence of the Lord. And that condition does not end.
Paul did not write these words as a theological exercise. He wrote them for a specific purpose.
"Therefore comfort one another with these words."
— 1 Thessalonians 4:18
These words are meant to comfort. When a believer loses someone who died in Christ, this is what Scripture gives them: that person is not simply gone, but present with the Lord, and the day is coming when the dead in Christ will rise, those who are living will be caught up with them, and they shall always be with the Lord. Grief and loss are real, and Scripture does not deny that — but it also gives grief a boundary. Grief does not have the final word; the return of Christ does.
The return of Christ is not only a future hope. It is a present reality that makes a demand on how a believer lives today. If Christ is coming again, and if the condition of the soul is determined before death, then what is done in this life carries permanent weight.
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
— 1 Corinthians 15:58
Because resurrection is certain and because the return of Christ is certain, present faithfulness is not wasted. What is done for God in this life is not lost. It is carried forward into eternity.
For Reflection
Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18; 1 Corinthians 15:58
1. The chapter says the return of Christ "makes a demand on how a believer lives today." What demand is it making on you right now?
2. How does knowing that "your labor is not in vain in the Lord" change what you are willing to keep doing even when it feels unnoticed?
3. What comfort does this truth actually give you regarding someone you have lost?
This Week: Do one piece of "labor for the Lord" this week that you have been putting off because it felt too small to matter.